America’s First Rural Cemetery: The Enduring Story of Mount Auburn

Tucked inside the bustle of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mount Auburn Cemetery feels like stepping through a secret threshold. Turn off a busy street, and suddenly the clamor fades, replaced by winding paths, shaded groves, and quiet ponds, a landscape that seems to breathe in time with the visitor. The very word “cemetery” comes from the Greek koimeterion, meaning “a place to sleep,” and here, that sleep feels gentle, almost reverent. Though many approach cemeteries with a shiver, thinking of them as somber or even eerie, Mount Auburn reveals another truth: it is a place of strange, haunting beauty, where history, art, and nature entwine, inviting reflection and wonder in equal measure.

The birth of America’s first rural cemetery

Overcrowded Burial Grounds in Early 19th-Century Cities

In the early 19th century, worries about overcrowded cemeteries were mounting in America’s growing cities. Most burials still took place in churchyards, town commons, or small municipal grounds, where thousands of interments were crowded into limited space. Graves were often dug five or six coffins deep, with bodies literally stacked upon one another. At times, flooding made the situation even more grim; walls gave way, coffins split open, and remains were washed into the streets. The stench of decay hung in the air, fueling fears that disease could spread and that decomposing human remains might seep into the water supply. Epidemics such as cholera and yellow fever were blamed on the state of these burial grounds. Meanwhile, rapid industrialization consumed what little land was left, making it increasingly difficult to find new space for the dead within city limits.

Dr. Jacob Bigelow’s vision for a new kind of cemetery

That growing unease set the stage for Dr. Jacob Bigelow, a Harvard professor and Boston physician, to gather a group of civic leaders in his home in 1825 to share a bold idea: a new kind of cemetery, one set outside the crowded city. He envisioned a landscaped burial ground on the outskirts, where families could purchase plots surrounded by trees, shrubs, and flowers; this model aimed to bring permanence, beauty, and even a sense of national pride to the American landscape. The group formed a committee to search for a suitable site during that meeting. Their efforts stretched on for five years, until George W. Brimmer offered the newly established Massachusetts Horticultural Society 72 acres along the Cambridge–Watertown border, land that would become part of Mount Auburn, for $6,000. It proved to be an ideal setting, crowned by a 125-foot central hill that offered sweeping views of Boston and Cambridge. For years, this land was cherished as a place of beauty and retreat, where people sought relief from the summer heat and students from nearby universities wandered its shaded paths. Once formally called “Stone’s Woods,” it became more lovingly known by its colloquial name: “Sweet Auburn.”

Designing Mount Auburn Cemetery’s landscape

Henry A.S. Dearborn, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, played a central role in shaping Mount Auburn’s design. Drawing on European ideas of naturalistic landscape design, he looked to English landscaped parks and Paris’s Père Lachaise Cemetery for inspiration. Together with civil engineer Alexander Wadsworth, Dearborn laid out winding roads that followed the land’s natural contours, weaving in wooded areas, reflective ponds, and panoramic views from the central hill.

In addition to the cemetery itself, Dearborn established a separate experimental garden, filled with both domestic and exotic fruits, flowers, and vegetables. As word of Mount Auburn’s innovative design spread, horticulturists from around the world contributed gifts of seeds, many of which were incorporated into the garden and cemetery alike. By the close of the 1830s, Mount Auburn’s landscape boasted several hundred trees, a testament to its founders’ vision of beauty, nature, and cultivation intertwined.

Mount Auburn’s consecration

The cemetery was consecrated on September 24, 1831, in a ceremony led by U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Harvard professor, and Mount Auburn’s first president, Joseph Story.  A rural cemetery, he told them, was meant to honor human feeling while easing the quiet fears that linger around death.

The influence of Mount Auburn Cemetery

A new model of burial in 19th-century America

Mount Auburn was unlike any cemetery that had come before it in North America. Expansive in scale and carefully designed, it offered permanent family lots, a landscaped setting beyond the crowded city, and free public access. Its creation reflected the romantic view of death that was so prevalent in the early 19th century, when the beautiful and the macabre were often interlaced. The founders envisioned more than a ground for mourning; they sought a place where the living could draw comfort from nature’s embrace. According to historian Stanley French, they believed time spent among the dead in such a landscape would teach the enduring lesson that the circle of life and loss are eternal. The grounds themselves held onto their natural contours, hills and valleys, quiet ponds, and canopies of trees. At a time when few American cities had parks or museums, Mount Auburn filled the void, offering both a public refuge and a “museum without walls,” where memory, art, and nature converged. In 1835, it became a non-profit, severing its ties with Dearborn; however, Mount Auburn’s focus on horticulture endured, combining experimental planting with high standards of maintenance as a core part of its purpose.

A resting place for all

From the moment Mount Auburn opened its gates, it set itself apart as a nondenominational cemetery that welcomed people of every faith, race, and background. At a time when many burial grounds segregated Black individuals to separate sections, Mount Auburn rejected such divisions. Here, their graves were not confined to the margins but placed throughout the landscape, woven into the same hills and groves that held all who came to rest.

Inspiring cemeteries and parks across the nation

The vision of Mount Auburn proved to be an immediate success. Families were drawn to the promise of permanent plots set within a tranquil, rural landscape, and the lots sold quickly. Its popularity soon spread beyond Boston, inspiring a wave of new garden cemeteries across the country. Mount Hope in Bangor, Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, and Laurel Hill in Philadelphia were among the many that followed in its footsteps, each carrying forward the idea that burial grounds could also be places of beauty, reflection, and solace. The popularity of Mount Auburn revealed something larger than a new way of burial; it underscored the public’s longing for parks and gardens, helping to spark America’s parks movement and shaping early ideas of conservation.

A sanctuary for nature, birds, and conservation

Over the years, Mount Auburn continued to embrace its role in conservation. Just decades after its consecration, it had become a beloved destination for birdwatchers, prompting the Trustees to form a Committee on Birds to recommend trees and shrubs that would welcome migrating flocks. In the 20th century, President Oakes Ingalls Ames carried that vision even further, cultivating the cemetery as both an arboretum and a sanctuary for birds, where nature and remembrance could flourish side by side.

Mount Auburn Cemetery and the shift in American attitudes toward death

Mount Auburn’s response to changing burial traditions

In the decades after the Civil War, American attitudes toward death began to change. The earlier sentimental and romantic views gave way to a preference for simplicity, economy, and uniformity. By the 1870s, Mount Auburn’s professional staff began shaping the grounds south of Washington Tower into what became known as the “landscape lawn.” Here, family lots opened onto shared grassy expanses, punctuated by only a few prominent monuments. New regulations on memorials reinforced the effect, creating an open, park-like landscape that reflected the evolving spirit of the age.

A more modern concept for the 20th century 

The modern concept of the memorial park grew out of 20th-century changes in both society and attitudes toward death. As American life became more secular and families grew smaller, the tradition of generations living, dying, and being buried together began to fade. People increasingly sought burial spaces for one or two individuals rather than expansive family lots. Mount Auburn responded with the development of Willow Pond, an area designed to resemble a public park. Here, above-ground memorials were set aside in favor of sweeping lawns, carefully tended gardens, and grave markers that lie flush with the earth. Works of art commissioned by the cemetery add moments of beauty and reflection, ensuring that remembrance endures without the grandeur of towering monuments.

Famous graves at Mount Auburn

More than 100,000 souls rest at Mount Auburn, including artists, scientists, politicians, reformers, writers, inventors, and educators whose influence reaches far beyond the Boston area. Among them are figures connected to conservation and the natural world: Jacob Bigelow, the cemetery’s founder; landscape architect Charles Eliot; socialite and Massachusetts Audubon Society founder Harriet Lawrence Hemenway; horticulturist and philanthropist, and founder of the Boston Public Gardens, Horace Gray; botanist Asa Gray; and ornithologists William Brewster and Ludlow Griscom. 

Other distinguished figures at Mount Auburn include U.S. Senators Henry Cabot Lodge and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.; activist Dorothea Dix; poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; author and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes; author and reformer Julia Ward Howe; and abolitionist and senator Charles Sumner. 

Honoring Black lives and legacies at Mount Auburn Cemetery

Among the prominent Black individuals interred at Mount Auburn are freedom seekers whose lives bore witness to both the horrors of slavery and the triumphs of liberation. Harriet Jacobs, author and abolitionist, and Mary Walker, a remarkable advocate for equality and reform, rest here, together with loved ones and a community that honored their courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to freedom. The monument Peter Byus stands as a symbol of the abolitionist cause and has inspired visitors since the 19th century. 

Trailblazing Harvard graduates resting at Mount Auburn

Furthermore, Harvard faculty and graduates found their final resting place at Mount Auburn, among them poet, editor, and diplomat James Russell Lowell; U.S. Congressman and Supreme Court Justice, lawyer, and prolific author of legal texts Joseph Story; and U.S. Senator, abolitionist, and orator Charles Sumner. Here, too, lie lawyer and judge George Ruffin; lawyer, politician, and founder of the NAACP, Clement Morgan; and football player and U.S. Assistant Attorney General William Henry Lewis; trailblazing Black graduates of Harvard Law School whose legacies of courage and achievement continue to echo through history.

Visiting Mount Auburn Cemetery Today

Exploring history through Mount Auburn’s tours and programs

Today, Mount Auburn’s mission endures much as it did at the time of its founding: to provide a dignified, beautiful, and tranquil resting place for the dead while offering comfort and inspiration to the living. In 2003, the Secretary of the Interior designated the cemetery a National Historic Landmark. It continues to thrive as a non-denominational nonprofit, cemetery, museum, sculpture garden, arboretum, wildlife sanctuary, and historic site. Even now, new plots are made available, ensuring that this landscape of memory and renewal remains a living part of the community.

Additionally, visitors can explore Mount Auburn through guided tours that illuminate its rich history, artistic treasures, and horticultural beauty. Offerings include the African American Heritage Tour, honoring Black trailblazers and innovators; Eternally Green, which highlights the cemetery’s sustainable practices; Notable Figures, a journey through the graves of those who have shaped our region, nation, and world; and Memorial Day tributes to those who gave their lives in service. Beyond tours, the cemetery also hosts a variety of events, ranging from art celebrations and special programs to mindfulness walks and reflections on death and grief; each invites a deeper connection with this remarkable landscape.

Nature and birdwatching at Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mount Auburn maintains a collection of over 5,500 trees, including nearly 700 species and varieties across its 175 acres. There are thousands of shrubs and herbaceous plants threaded through the cemetery’s hills, ponds, woodlands, and clearings. Many of these trees, shrubs, and plants are tagged with labels displaying both their scientific and common names. There are more than ten miles of roads and paths to explore. The landscaping varies from Victorian-era plantings to more modern gardens, and spaces seamlessly shift from natural forested areas to carefully cultivated gardens. A favorite location for bird watchers, Mount Auburn is home to over 220 bird species. In fact, the cemetery is designated as an Important Bird Area for its importance in long-term research and/or monitoring projects that contribute substantially to ornithology, bird conservation, and education. 

A living archive of life, death, and memory

Part gallery, part garden, Mount Auburn Cemetery is alive with history and nature in conversation. For nearly two centuries, it has been a place where art and landscape reflect evolving ideas about life, death, and remembrance. Within its grounds are some 45,000 examples of funerary art, alongside countless works inspired by this extraordinary place. Over time, Mount Auburn has continually adapted to shifting customs of burial, mourning, and commemoration, becoming, in its own right, a living archive charting America’s changing relationship with death over nearly two centuries.

In the end, Mount Auburn Cemetery is more than a burial ground; it is a landscape where history, art, and nature converge to remind us that life and death are not opposing forces but two halves of the same whole. To wander its shaded paths is to encounter nearly two centuries of changing American attitudes toward memory, mourning, and the meaning of permanence. Every monument, every grove, every bird taking flight speaks to the truth that death is never apart from life, but woven into it. Mount Auburn endures not simply as a cemetery, but as a living archive, a sanctuary of beauty and reflection where the silence tells us, with a quiet certainty, that the story of the living is always written beside the dead.

More New England lifestyle & travel